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How to best use budgeting software for higher education

Questica

November 23, 2017

Whether they are educators, students, or administrators, nearly everyone involved in the running of a college or university needs to consider financial questions. Especially now, as we approach a new year, and education continues to evolve, many people ask: what’s next? Higher education institutions face a constant struggle to successfully implement budgets. For many, there’s pressure not just to succeed, but to appease the alumni who offer generous donations to their alma maters.

Of course, there are the students themselves – and their own financial woes. According to a study by Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce, the past 25 years saw more than 70 percent of students working while in school. Everyone involved in higher education benefits from proper budgeting software. While much of the market is directed towards corporate business and the public sector, there’s software for higher education needs as well. Here’s some information about it, and how you can best utilize these budgeting opportunities.

Questica is an expert in budgeting software for higher education and a host of other financial issues. Since 1998, Questica has worked to make finances easier and better for public sector and non-profit clients. We manage over $60 million in annual public sector budgets, and we want to help you. Browse our website for more information.

Why is it best to use budgeting software for higher education?

Schools cannot always easily predict future financial needs.

As nice as it would be to have a one-size-fits-all system for university budgeting, unfortunately, it does not work that way. Some schools prefer to focus on the future through incremental budgeting. The difficulty with this idea is that it tends to be limiting. Though incremental budgeting allows an institution to plan years in advance, it does not consider costs and how they affect the overall revenue. Proper budgeting software helps keep data consistent and organized, which limits human error and allows for more accurate forecasting. Thus, schools meet their goals easier, and the entire institution thrives as a result.

The right budgeting software integrates with the institution’s existing systems.

Performance-based budgeting is an alternative to incremental budgeting. This process is effective, but it is also more time consuming because an institution must gather and evaluate the data for each performance measure before they can allocate the budget appropriately. Again, a dedicated budgeting software fully integrates with a college’s existing system and not only helps to budget the money but also to track the performances of the institutions’ goals. That way, schools ensure that their most viable and promising programs are the ones that continue to grow.

Questica is the right kind of budgeting software for higher education institutions.

Questica software works with higher education institutions to deliver responsive, organized, and efficient budgeting year after year. Our software integrates with Student Information Systems to help educators keep track of enrollment. In fact, it works with you no matter which budgeting method you choose to implement. Additionally, Questica offers easy organization solutions to improve your already existing practices. The Questica budget system allows you to sort by course and major, and can also separate your allocations, so you don’t confuse alumni donations with government funding. If you are interested in learning more about Questica and how our software can help you can download a whitepaper or take a product tour.

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About Questica

Questica’s budget preparation and management software suite – Questica Budget – Integrates with more than 25 financial systems, along other systems. This ensures organizations can access all the information they need to develop, track, monitor and adjust their budgets, plus report out to stakeholders when and to who they need to. Questica Budget Suite’s Operating, Salary, Capital and Performance modules ensure public sector organizations have a clear view into their budgets, forecasts and expenditures, thus enabling those organizations to deliver on their financial and non-financial strategic objectives. Additionally, Questica’s easy-to-use OpenBook transparency and data visualization software can be used to share an organization’s financial and non-financial information with both its internal and external stakeholders. To learn more about Questica and how our software solutions can help your organization – watch a product video, read one of our case studies/whitepapers or request a demo today!